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April 19, 2014

52 Ancestors: Ots-Toch, the Mohawk Wife of Cornelis Van Slyke

I'm writing about my Mohawk ancestor Ots-Toch as part of Amy Crow's Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks . Ots-Toch was my 9th great-grandmother and I've written about her in my book on the Van Slyke family of New Netherland (New York). After researching her extensively, I was able to obtain my Metis status in Ontario. Luckily she is written about in contemporary records and this proving my Native American heritage was possible. Last year I submitted DNA kits to different companies for both myself, my brother and my son. Our Native American ancestry was confirmed through DNA which was like icing on the cake.

Here is a brief excerpt from Chapter 3 of my book The Van Slyke Family in America: A Genealogy of Cornelise Antonissen
Van Slyke, 1604-1676 and his Mohawk Wife Ots-Toch, including the story
of Jacques Hertel, 1603-1651, Father of Ots-Toch and Interpreter to
Samuel de Champlain REVISED EDITION published May 2010.

Caveat: Please take the use of the word "princess" with a grain of salt. It was common for 19th century writings to romanticize Native American women in particular, assigning daughter of a chief status to them. Ots-Toch was in fact fathered by Jacques Hertel, a French interpretor to Samuel de Champlain. It is not known who her Mohawk mother was.

Little is known of the wife of Cornelis Van
Slyke. Even her name, Ots-Toch, is clouded in controversy, with some writing it
as Alstock. One word in the Mohawk language which may provide a clue to her
name is "Otsihsto" meaning "the stars".
"Otsihsto" is pronounced so that the sound is similar to "Asistock".
It must be remembered that her name was recorded phonetically from verbal
accounts and it is quite possible that Otsihsto is the correct interpretation
of Ots-Toch's name.Her date of birth is
unknown, although it is estimated as circa 1622. There is argument over her
heritage and her parents.

There aretwo prevalent theories of Ots-Toch's heritage, one that she was a
full-blooded Mohawk of the Turtle Clan, the daughter of a Mohawk chief or
Sachem. [1]
The second theory is that Ots-Toch was the daughter of a French trapper,
Jacques Hertel and a full-blooded Mohawk Princess.[2]The use of the word "Princess"
would imply that Ots-Toch's mother was the daughter of the Sachem or chief of
her tribe.

According to Nelson Greene and other sources,
Ots-Toch was "wild and savage like her mother". [3]
Ouida Blanthorn, in her genealogy of Cornelis Van Slyck and his descendants
written 1973, states that Ots-Toch was a "half-French, half-Indian maiden
of compelling grace and beauty, whose mother was a Mohawk princess [sic] and whose
father, Jacques Hartell [sic] was a French trader."

There were many original records pertaining to Ots-Toch. As an example here is one given in my book as found in land records of 1713 for Harmen Van Slyke, grandson of Ots-Toch.

Harmen was a Captain in a Schenectady Company in 1714 and an Indian
trader in 1724. He received a grant of 300 morgens of land at Canajoharie NY
from the Mohawks because

"his grandmother was a right Mohawk woman" and "his
father born with us at Canajoharie". His father was Jacques Cornelise, son
of Ots-Toch, the half French, half Mohawk woman who married his father Cornelis
Antonissen.

7 comments:

Ots-Toch is my great grandmother several times over on both my mother and fathers side. I would love more information on her as she was a hero in the Revolutionary war, caring for the starving Mohaks incarcerated in Pleasant Valley concentration camp.

She would also be my 9th great grandmother I have been looking for this information a long time, I am waiting on my results of a DNA test through Ancestry. I have always felt the presence of an Native American Princess when channeling my spirit guides. I am so stinking excited

Hi Lorine ! This is kind of un-related to your topic right now, but I need help to discover my Native American heritage ! My interest is not for any legal or monetary purpose . I would just like to know where I came from . I know the heritage has to be on the mother's side , but my heritage is on my father's . His mother was on a reservation until she was 16 years old , but I can't find any record of it ! All I know is that I was told that my Grandmother was part of the Mohawk Tribe /Iroquois Nation. According to what I found on Ancestry.com , her mother was born in Brookfield, MA ! I live in Winchendon, MA. Please if you could possibly point me in the right direction , I would greatly appreciate it ! Thank you for your time !

New!

Death Finds a Way: A Janie Riley Mystery by Lorine McGinnis SchulzeJanie Riley is an avid genealogist with a habit of stumbling on to dead bodies. She and her husband head to Salt Lake City Utah to research Janie's elusive 4th great-grandmother. But her search into the past leads her to a dark secret. Can she solve the mysteries of the past and the present before disaster strikes?

I'm an incurable collector of
antiques, an avid genealogist and a messy but creative cook! I blog, i write history and genealogy books. My main genealogy website is Olive Tree Genealogy http://olivetreegenealogy.com/

Lorine is the author of many published genealogical and historical
articles and books available at
http://LorineSchulze.com